Sunday, October 22, 2006

Lazy Sunday

I've been remiss in reviewing movies lately, mostly because I haven't been to many in the past few months, so I thought I'd catch you up with some badly written haikus...Snakes On A PlaneSquirming, slitheringMy feet didn't touch the floorthe entire time.***Little Miss SunshineSweet little Olive,Your dance number made us allwant to join in.****1/2The DescentBloody, scary, bloody scaryI will never go spelunkingin this lifetime.****Talladega NightsMy brother and his wifealmost hyperventilatedwith laughter.***Mother Teresa said, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them", but I think my family has somehow managed to do both for like, years now.'Gobnet Brindle' is my new favourite spam-sender name.Steven Colbert and Tina Fey need to colloborate, on anything.Best new shows this fall: "Studio 60" (Chandler's got chops, compelling characters and sharp writing), "Heroes" (think "X-Men" meets "The Stand") and "The Nine" (think "Speed" in a bank, plus, I'd follow Tim Daly just about anywhere)As a mere mortal, seeing that Hollywood actresses who have personal trainers, personal chefs and thousands of dollars to spend on esthetic procedures, can still have armpit fat above their $8000 designer dresses, is strangely comforting.I am convinced that somewhere in a closet in the back of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, lies a bound and gagged Ray Liotta, while his wax double continues to appear on TV and film.Mystery solved! Like many other girls of my acquaintance, I had a substantial crush on Andrew McCarthy after he played Blane in "Pretty In Pink". But was confused for years by the film's final prom scene where his hair appeared to be caught somewhere between a rat and a rainstorm. This made no sense to my besotted 16 year old brain, until I recently read that he had shaved his head for another film role and was forced to wear a wig in the rewritten final scene. 20 years that's been bugging me, people. You're welcome.Dwight Quote-of-the-Week: "Krentist."(Dwight's response to Michael's interrogation about the name of Dwight's bogus dentist on "The Office")I am afraid of sharks. This is not new information. But like many people, I am fascinated by what scares me (horror films, anyone?) and consequently know more about them than any other animal. I recently read a great article by Rob Stewart, the filmmaker behind "Sharkwater", (which I unfortunately missed at this year's film festival) and wanted to share some excerpts:"Sharks are the oldest large animal we have on the planet. They've existed in harmony with the earth for over 400 million years, shaping species that they prey upon, and in turn much of the oceans. The oceans produce 70 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere, and destroying the one animal that's managed to survive on earth, in an age where our own longevity on earth is in question, is not a good idea. We can learn a lot from sharks, but we ignore them because we're afraid of them.One hundred million sharks are caught each year, mostly due to the growing demand for shark fin soup. Poachers cut off the fins and dump the bodies overboard still alive. Though many countries have banned shark finning, millions of sharks are illegally harvested each year.They're not dangerous. They're not mindless killers. They don't eat people and I think as long as people view them as dangerous predators, people aren't going to care about them. They're not going to want them to survive on the planet.I hope that it starts reversing the way the media has portrayed sharks and gives people the infomration they need to make better decisions to say "Okay, I'm not going to be afraid of that," or "I'm not going to listen to this headline." In order for humans to survive on this planet, to have such an irrational fear of sharks is not a good thing.The other thing is that we've been on this thousand-year trend of destruction. It hasn't been cool to conserve or promote sustainable use of the environment and the oceans. But I think people are going to start realizing that if we're going to survive on this plant as a species, we need to conserve it and protect it. Conservation is becoming cool." (fr. Tribute magazine)Watch for "Sharkwater" on DVD and another great book on this topic is "Shark Trouble" by Peter Benchley (author of Jaws).Does this make me a seahugger...?